Later Than By Your Standards
by Tacpebs
Summary: Kakashi's been sent on a mission and hasn't made it back yet. Tsunade and his team are worried because he's known to be late, but not this late. No word for days, what could be going on?


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any character from the manga.

**Summary: **Kakashi's been sent on a mission and hasn't made it back yet. Tsunade and his team are worried because he's known to be late, but not this late. No word for days, what could be going on? Is he ok?

Read on to find out.

* * *

The rain was coming down so hard, but he couldn't do anything about it. He had to stay focused, out in the rain, or he'd die. It was a recon mission. At least that's what it was supposed to be. Now he found himself standing out in the rain trying to come up with a good battle strategy. He had complete faith in himself, but he also knew not to under estimate your opponent.

"Let's finish this." The man standing directly in front of him said.

He could only nod before the two of them sprang into action. Kunai against kunai, jutsu against jutsu, the two of them fought. Just when he thought he had the upper hand, his enemy surprised him and he over compensated for the change. Turning to his left, just in time for a kunai to land right between his upper ribs, piercing a lung, he managed to watch as the man ran towards him as if in slow motion and push the kunai further in with his foot. Shock barely showed on his masked face, but he used the closeness to his advantage and grabbed the leg with one hand while summoning chakra to his left hand.

"Chidori!" He said and with a mighty thrust, he managed to get said hand through the front of his enemy, and out through his back.

His enemy's eyes widen in surprise before they went completely dead. Removing his hand slowly, he tried to calm his breathing so that he could actually breathe. Allowing the chakra to rotate throughout his body once more, he quickly pulled his mask down and coughed. Wincing as the kunai seemed to dig deeper into his body, he coughed again and moved his right hand to rest upon the kunai. Knowing no other method but quick and simple, he pulled the kunai out and tossed it away from him. Resting his right hand upon the injury itself, he used what little medical knowledge he possessed to heal it. Managing to remove some of the pain and close up the wound as much as he could, he stood wobbly to his feet and managed to stand there until the dizziness passed. Rubbing his forehead, he winced at the start of a headache. Replacing the mask upon his face, he looked down at the dead body and thought about what he'd need to do in order to take care of it. A simple earth jutsu and a hole appeared beneath the body, soon the hole was once again filled and there was no indication that there had ever been a hole, or a body. He let out a slight sigh before he found himself coughing once more. A hand rubbed at his chest before he figured it was past time to go home.

'_Home.'_ He thought.

How long had it been since he'd last been there? Figuring any other aches and pains he had could be taken care of once he'd reached his place, he quickly made sure there were no traces that he, or anyone else, had been in that area before he took off running.

"Where is he? He should've been home by now." A very loud Tsunade asked.

"We… we haven't seen or heard from him Tsunade-sama." Sakura, a young woman of 18, pink hair, and a strength that no one else her age possessed, replied before looking to both the men that were standing on either side of her.

They both nodded that they too hadn't receive anything, nor had heard from him.

"That brat was supposed to be here months ago. It's not like him to not send any kind of word." Tsunade, a woman that looks in her late thirties, early forties, with blonde hair that's kept in a pony tail, known for her great strength, and as the fifth Hokage, replied.

"Perhaps… maybe he's been in some trouble or something. Perhaps the mission had to take a bit longer?" Sakura said.

"You're still supposed to send word. Something!" Tsunade yelled.

"This is Kakashi we're talking about." said before being smacked in the back of the head by Sakura.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Kakashi cares when it comes to missions and showing his loyalty to and for Konoha. He's probably hurt somewhere and just hasn't been able to send word that he needs help. Then again, I'm sure he would've sent Pakkun if that were true." Sakura said.  
"I'll give him another week and if he's not here by then, I'm sending you three out to find him. Understood?" Tsunade asked.

"Hai!" They all replied.

It was dark when the gates of Konoha were looming in front of him as he made it through the forest four days later. He'd made it. Blinking slowly, moving stiffly, he looked at the two gatekeepers as he walked through the gates.

"Yo." He managed.

"Kakashi! You look… rough." Izumo Kamizuki remarked.

"Yeah." Kotetsu Hagane agreed with a frown on his face.

"Ah, nothing a bit of sleep won't cure." Kakashi, a man of the age 26, white hair, and known to have copied over a thousand techniques giving him the nickname Copy Ninja Kakashi, croaked.

He just managed to move away from them and towards his apartment complex, as he could no longer suppress a strong urge to cough. He had to pull his mask down and out of the way so as to get a good enough breath of air. At the same time, he had to watch as a clump of blood escaped from between his lips. Shaking his head, but quickly stopped remembering the now thundering headache, he made it to the few more blocks towards his place. Lifting his arm to get the key in place was like a chore. He coughed some more as he entered the dust filled living room. Removing his shoes, he slowly started removing the rest of his clothes. The coldness that had settled in his body had him seeking out the bathroom first. He could only hope there was hot water to be used. Once all his clothes were off, a line trailing from the front door to the door of the bathroom, he opened the bathroom door and made it over to the shower. Turning the faucet for hot water to come out, he was overly thankful when it was hot water that came out. At least it seemed to be hot water that was coming out to him. Had anyone else been there, they would've told him it was actually quite cold and the fever that was raging his body was what really made him believe that the water was hot. As quickly as he could, he got under the water and stood there for a moment trying to warm up before he took hold of the soap and began washing himself. It seemed an hour had gone by before he finally got out of the shower. He was amazed that the hot water had lasted as long as it did. Merely shrugging off the thought, he coughed more and leaned over to spit in the sink as more blood made itself out of his body. Closing his eyes for a minute, he nearly fell asleep standing there before he realized he had a much better place to be. His bed was calling him and he didn't want to keep it waiting. Moving into his room, he made his way over to his bed and collapsed on top of the covers. He fell asleep immediately.

"Alright, the end of the week is up. I'm sending you out where we last got a message from him. You'll have to start there and work your way around in order to find him." Tsunade said.

"I really hope he's ok." Sakura said.

"Oh he's fine, just probably taking his time reading those books of his." Naruto said.

Sakura smacked him in the head and frowned at him.

"Perhaps we better get started?" Sai, a young man of 19, known for his work in Root, an underground organization of top performers in Konoha, very skilled in art, asked.

"Right, here's the scroll of the coordinates, be safe and bring him back. Dismissed!" Tsunade said and the three of them left.

"Well, I'll meet you guys at the gates in a few minutes. I want to pack a few more things since we know where we're going now." Naruto said.

"I too could use a little more time." Sai said.

Sakura merely sighed and told them to go ahead and she would just meet them at the gate. Her thoughts on Kakashi, she sighed at the fact that they had to go find him. Upon reaching the gate, she gave a small wave to Izumo and Kotetsu.

"Hey Sakura, what are you doing here? Got a mission?" Izumo asked.

"Yeah… the boys and I are setting off to go find Kakashi." Sakura responded.

"What do you mean?" Kotetsu asked.

"Well we haven't heard from in months. He was supposed to be back by now and he isn't." Sakura responded.

"Yes he is. What do you mean? We would've saw him if he left again." Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other with a frown before turning their attention back to Sakura.

"Wait, what?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, he got back… two nights ago?" Izumo responded looking to Kotetsu for confirmation.

"No… I think it was about… three nights ago." Kotetsu said.

Sakura gasped and looked at them.

"What? Why didn't you say anything? Where is he now?" Sakura asked.

"I'd think he'd be back at his place. He wasn't looking too good. Said that it wasn't anything sleep couldn't cure." Kotetsu said with a shrug.

With that, Sakura took off down the road that lead to Kakashi's place.

He almost couldn't tell whether the pounding in his head was louder or the pounding that was now going on at his door. His throat was dry, his body felt like he couldn't move, and his stomach was so twisted he'd thought it had become a second intestine.

"Kakashi? I know you're in there. Open the door!" The voice called.

He couldn't seem to focus enough in order to tell who it was. His ears seemed stuffed or he felt as if he were under water. Thinking of water, he found himself beyond thirsty and wanted to get up and get a drink of it. He managed to turn his head a little to look to his desk for a cup of water or something, but found nothing there.

"Kakashi! If you don't open this door right now, I'll break it down!" The voice threatened.

He wasn't too sure how whoever it was thought he was going even roll over onto his side, let alone get up to open the door. He coughed and sighed as he felt a few trickles of sweat roll down his face. Blinking slowly, he noted how the pounding had finally stopped. He merely started to drift off again when he heard a crash. His eyes somehow flew open and he tried to get up in order to subdue the intruder. Footsteps could be heard as someone entered his living room.

"Oh, I didn't know it was already unlocked. Well this just proves you're home. Look at this, you've got clothes all over the place." The voice said.

Kakashi had just managed to turn his head a bit towards the room door when the person walked in.

"There you are! Have you any idea how worried sick we were about you?" Sakura said.

He could hardly see her, but he knew who that pink hair belonged to. He tried to say her name, but his lips wouldn't open.

"Do you have any idea…" She paused and a great blush over came her face.

He wasn't wearing any clothes! She quickly turned away covered her face.

"Kakashi! What on earth? I understand it's your house, but what if you had company?" She shook her head.

She couldn't help but frown when she got no response. Wanting to turn around, but unable to as of yet, she tried to hear any indication that he was getting up to put on some clothes. When she heard nothing, she chanced turning around to look at him, but kept her eyes strictly on his face. She gasped as she realized he wasn't even wearing a mask.

"Kaka-shi?" She called and then blinked as she looked at him.

Moving closer, she could just make out the beads, rivers, trails, of sweat that coated him. She quickly fell from being embarrassed to being concerned. Walking over to him, she saw that his eyes were half-mast and that his breathing was very erratic.

"Kakashi?" She gasped at the bluish black color that was on his chest.

Her eyes roamed the rest of his body in order to check him for other injuries, but she kept herself from looking down too far. To be even safer, she dragged a sheet over his lower half and watched as he trembled and shook before she ran a hand softly down his hair. She stood up straight once more and turned heading the way out of the room and towards the front door entrance. Exiting just in time to nearly crash into Naruto and Sai, she looked to the both of them and opened her mouth.

"What is this? Izumo and Kotetsu said Kakashi's home. What the heck? He couldn't let someone know? Doesn't he have to report to Tsunade-sama what happened on this mission and all? I mean that would've been the way to let us know he's ok, but nooo… he decides to just stay at his house and…" Naruto ranted before being interrupted by Sakura.

"Sai, you and Naruto need to go and get Lady Tsunade now." Sakura said.

"What? We want to see Kakashi. Knock him around a few times for making us, making you, worry." Naruto yelled.

"I promise I'll explain later, but please go get her, now!" Sakura yelled.

With that, Naruto and Sai turned and ran off to the Hokage tower. Sakura decided to wait until they got back before she went back into the house. When the three of them arrived, Tsunade looked to Sakura for an explanation.

"Lady Tsunade, you better go in first. You two should probably stay here until you're called. Kakashi doesn't look good at all and I'm sure he wouldn't want you to see him like this." Sakura said.

"What? What do you mean? We're a team! We're coming in too!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto! Stay here and wait. I'll let you come in and see him once I've made sure that he's ok. You got that?" Tsunade commanded.

Naruto merely pouted and sat down at the door. Sai merely shrugged and sat down outside the door as well. Sakura allowed Tsunade to walk into the home first before her..

"So what's wrong this time Kakash-" Tsunade began as she entered the room and then froze.

She took one look at him and ran over placing a hand on his forehead and then one at his chest. He shivered and began coughing. A trail of blood escaped between his lips and his eyes opened weakly to see who the new voice was, but he couldn't focus enough to do so, so he passed out.

"Shit! He's burning up! Sakura, grab me towels that have been soaked in cold water and give them to me before you run a lukewarm bath. Hurry!" Tsunade requested.

Sakura ran to the bathroom and did as she was asked. She quickly got the towels, three, and placed them under the faucet of cold water and wrung them out before rushing back into the room, giving them to Tsunade-sama. Then she ran back and started the bath. Meanwhile, Tsunade folded the towels in various places, one on his forehead, another under the sheet at his crotch, and using the last one to try to cool him down by wiping the sweat from his body.

"Ok, the tub is full with the water." Sakura said as she left the bathroom and entered the bedroom once more.

"Good, quickly help me get him to the bathroom." Tsunade said as she rose from her spot on the bed beside the man and waited for Sakura to grab his feet.

He didn't seem heavy at all as the two of them lifted him up and maneuvered him into the bathroom and then into the tub. At first Kakashi felt like he was floating and then flying, but then he felt as if he were falling and then placed into a lake of freezing water. His eyes attempted to fly open, but he was too weak to protest and his body still didn't allow him movement.

"Keep his head up." Tsunade said to Sakura.

Sakura merely nodded and kept Kakashi's head above the water. With the free towel from before, she moved water up and down Kakashi's body just trying to cool him down. Moving chakra to her right hand, she took his temperature and noted how it seemed to have gone down. Feeling it safe to remove Kakashi from the tub soon, she instructed Sakura to change the bedding on the bed. Sakura quickly set to work and finished in record time. Moving back into the bathroom, she blushed as she was going to have to grab Kakashi's feet this time. Keeping her eyes on Tsunade-sama, they got him dried off and onto the bed before long. Tsunade took note of the bluish- black bruise and set to work healing it. Noting that his lung had been damaged, she also could tell he had pneumonia. Frowning, she healed his lung and any other scrapes or bruises that he had along his body. Standing to her feet after she covered Kakashi with the clean sheet, she sighed and shook her head.

"He's no where near in the clear. We need to get him to the hospital." Tsunade said.

Sakura merely looked at her and nodded. She quickly moved around and found one of his masked shirts and moved towards him and managed to somehow get the shirt over his head and down to his waist. She then quickly found a pair of pants for him to slip on so that they could be off.

"Naruto! Sai! Come here a minute." Tsunade called.

The two of them quickly rose to their feet and moved into the house in search of the two women. Seeing as there were only three rooms in the entire place, they found the one they were looking for and moved over towards the bed. Naruto moved closer and couldn't help but notice that Kakashi looked really bad. His hair wasn't doing its anti-gravity lift, his eyes were closed. His breaths were shallow, but quick and he had frown lines that were deep as an ocean.

"He doesn't look too good." Naruto said.

"We need to get him to the hospital. I need you two to carry him there." Tsunade said.

Sai and Naruto quickly moved into position to grab Kakashi's legs and arms so that they could follow Tsunade and Sakura out of the house and towards the hospital. It took them fifteen minutes, seeing as they were walking quickly so not to jostle Kakashi too much. It also took them that long because of the fact that he lived a quite a few miles from the hospital.

"Take him into trauma room four." Tsunade said and walked off in order to wash her hands so that she could truly take care of Kakashi. "You'll be helping me Sakura. Naruto, you and Sai can wait in the waiting room."

Sakura nodded and headed off to wash her hands as well. Tsunade then called a few nurse to monitor Kakashi and get the usual information that they needed. His temperature was 103.6, his pulse was elevated, and his blood pressure was high. Once Sakura and Tsunade entered the room once more, they set to work healing their friend.

Tsunade and Sakura, along with the other many nurses that helped, were finally able to get Kakashi's fever down and his body completely checked out. They were going to have to keep an eye on his lungs. They still weren't sounding too good, but it was better than when they first found him.

"Alright Sakura, you can tell those other two to come in." Tsunade said once they had gotten Kakashi settled in a room.

"Hai." Sakura responded and headed off to the waiting room.

Tsunade took one more look at Kakashi.

"You ever worry me like that again brat, you might as well not come home. Especially, if you're not going to bother to let someone know whether you're ok, or not. Do you understand me?" She asked.

"Hai." Kakashi replied quietly and coughed.

"Now, you got Naruto on his way in here. I don't care how much you want to, don't open your mouth, unless it's to cough up that phlegm." She said.

"Hai." He replied again and coughed once more, nearly choking.

Tsunade quickly got the basin so that he could spit into it.

"See." She said and went to empty the basin.

Kakashi felt like crap and he was tired. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep the rest of this crappy feeling away. He winced slightly as the door to his room banged open to reveal Naruto and the rest of his team.

"Kakashi-sensei! You ok now?" Naruto yelled.

Sakura smacked him in the back of his head and told him to use his inside voice.

"Ow, Sakura-chan." He whined and moved away from her.

Kakashi tried to give them his typical smile, but it soon morphed into a need to cough and clear his lungs. Tsunade walked over with the basin once more and stood in front so that they couldn't see his face. Naruto tried to see around her, but Sakura smacked him for it.

"Oww, Sakura-chan…" He whined once more.

By this time, Kakashi had finished his episode and was lying back on his pillows, spent.

"Perhaps we should let Kakashi-sensei get his rest?" Sai asked.

"Yes, I think that best." Tsunade said.

"Bye Sensei." The group said before heading out.

Tsunade looked at Kakashi once more before leaving the basin on his side table and walking out so that he could get some rest. Kakashi closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep.

The next morning, Kakashi found himself confused for a moment, but soon remembered where he was and why. He ran a hand over his chest and coughed roughly before pulling the basin in front of him and pulling him mask down so that he was able to cough up the phlegm.

"Kakashi-sensei? May I enter?" He heard Sakura ask.

"Hai." He responded roughly and coughed once more.

"Oh, sorry." Sakura said and turned to close the door behind her.

She walked over to his bed and looked at him. He still looked tired, but she had to admit he looked better than he first did.

"May I check your lungs Sensei?" She asked.

He nodded, knowing better this time. Sakura gently rested a hand on top of his chest and allowed her chakra to enter into his system so she could check his lungs. He winced slightly, but soon relaxed. After a moment, he had to cough and clear his lungs, Sakura quickly moved the basin in front of him and he coughed up what he could. Sakura was gently helping, but in the long run he was going to have to get it all out himself. The antibiotics that had been given to him were going to help, but he still had a ways to go. Sakura pulled back her chakra and moved to clean out the basin. Kakashi laid back, spent. Sakura pulled out a syringe, seemingly out of nowhere, and administered his dosage of the antibiotics.

"There you go Sensei. This should help." Sakura said.

He merely closed his eyes and fell asleep. When he woke up again, he wasn't sure what time it was, but he blinked a couple of times before raising an eyebrow at the proximity of Naruto's face in his.

"Oh, you're awake!" Naruto greeted.

Kakashi frowned and winced at his loudness before stretching somewhat and then turning to cough. Naruto was secretly hoping that he needed to spit, but alas it was merely a cough.

"How are you feeling Sensei?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi merely smiled.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, but shrugged.

"So when do you think you'll be getting out of here?" He asked,

Kakashi gave him a shrug.

"You had us worried Sensei. We were about to go look for you." Naruto said sadly.

Kakashi felt bad, but it wasn't too much of his fault for his lack of communication. He had been rather busy.

"Well, I'm just glad you're ok now. Or at least you will be." Naruto said once more.

Kakashi coughed and winced as a slight pounding behind his eyes began.

"Sensei? Are you alright?" Naruto asked.

"Sa…kura…" He began and started to cough more.

Naruto almost stayed rooted where he was, but kicked himself and ran off to find Sakura. Kakashi managed to grab the basin and cough into it before a splitting pain rain up the side of his head. He dropped the basin in his lap and held a hand to his head.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura knocked.

He winced and whimpered for a second. Sakura opened the door and walked into the room.

"Sensei? You needed me?" She questioned.

At that moment, Kakashi coughed a great deal and spat into the basin only to have the pain shoot up again. He cried out and Sakura quickly ran over to him.

"What is it? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Head… hurts." Kakashi managed and started to cough again.

He tried to stop it himself this time, but couldn't. Sakura placed a hand on his head and ran her chakra through to see if she could locate the problem. She had to stop, somewhat, ever time Kakashi coughed.

"It seems to be a clot. Hold on." Sakura took advantage of the lack of coughing.

She quickly removed the clot and saw that Kakashi was asleep. She fussed over him a bit and then turned to leave the room. She had to report the clot to Tsunade-sama.

Over a period of a week, Kakashi got his coughing up phlegm down to just coughing. Two weeks later the pneumonia was out of his system and Kakashi was getting restless. Granted he was still weak, but he was getting better. The day of his release, Tsunade-sama made it quite clear to him that if he ever did something like that again, he'd regret it for the rest of his life.

"Understood." Kakashi replied.

"Good. You're dismissed." Tsunade-sama said as she turned her attention back to what she was previously working on.

Kakashi journeyed to his place and figured he'd catch up on all he had missed while in the hospital. He was grateful to have good friends and those that cared about it. He could only hope he wouldn't have to test their loyalty ever again.

**-The End-**


End file.
